


The Scales are Balanced, to the Detriment of the Heart

by kyrdwyn



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Benji is a good friend, F/M, M/M, Not kidding about the spoilers, Post-Fallout vignette, Suicidal Thoughts, spoilers for mission impossible: fallout
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 13:25:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15886941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrdwyn/pseuds/kyrdwyn
Summary: After returning to DC, the team find a reckoning in Ethan's townhome.  Post-Mission Impossible: Fallout.   Massive spoilers.





	The Scales are Balanced, to the Detriment of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Not related to my other Mission: Impossible fic, Send More Shwarma, but something that hit me after I saw the movie, and percolated until I finally found an ending for it. I don't know why the title is so pretentious, but it's what seems to have stuck. Un-beta'd.

It was a somber group that arrived at Ethan's townhome near DC. After Ethan had finally been cleared to travel from Kashmir, he, along with Ilsa, Benji, and Luther, had travelled back to the US for debriefing from the CIA and overseeing the transfer of Simon Lane to the UK. That left Ilsa free from MI-6's machinations. But they'd still had one final thing to do before they could go their separate ways.

There hadn't been a public funeral for Alan Hunley, Secretary of the Impossible Mission Force. Erica Sloan had informed them that Secretary Hunley's spouse had insisted on a private funeral with no one from the US government present, and the Senate oversight committee had been inclined to agree that a private funeral was best. So the four of them, three IMF agents and one MI-6 agent, had gone out to raise a glass to the man that had had their back more than once, and had died in the line of duty. More than one glass had been raised, so they'd walked back to Ethan's home, all planning on crashing there. Benji hadn't had had as much as the others, still puzzling over the small envelope that Hunley had slipped into his hand just before he'd died, just after Ethan had run off to catch Walker. Hunley had been trying to say something but Benji couldn't understand it, and then he'd had to chase after Ethan. It had been on the flight back from Kashmir that he'd remembered the envelope and opened it, finding a flash drive and two rings that looked like men's wedding rings. Hunley's, maybe, as the man hadn't been wearing one, and his spouse? Or were they for a mission that the flash drive was attached to?

He didn't know why he hadn't given the rings or the flash drive to the CIA or even the others from the IMF, but he figured it was important to Hunley personally. Benji had decided to wait until he was home and then see what was on the drive on a non-networked computer.

Ethan paused on his threshold of his townhome, just after undoing his alarm. He looked at the three of them and held up his hand, the other reaching for his gun. Luther and Ilsa went for theirs as well, and Benji put his hand on his, but stayed back, putting his back to the door and scanning the street in case there were others out there.

"Brandt?" Ethan's voice drifted out of the doorway and Benji turned, looking inside. Luther and Ilsa were lowering their weapons, so Benji hurried inside, shutting the door after him. He came up beside Luther, and blinked at what he saw.

William Brandt, looking nearly impeccable in a dark suit and tie, sat in one of Ethan's armchairs, a shot glass in his hand and a half full bottle of vodka on the table next to him. In front of his other hand was a gun, barrel aimed into the room. Brandt's hand wasn't on the pistol but it wouldn't take much for him to be wielding it. 

"Did you save her, Ethan?" Brandt asked, staring at Ethan without blinking. His eyes were bloodshot, Benji noticed.

"Save who, Brandt?" Ethan asked cautiously. He had his gun lowered and was half turned, slowly approaching Brandt, clearly trying to minimize his profile in case Brandt went for the gun.

" _Her_ ," Brandt spat, an abrupt edge of contempt in his voice.

"Ilsa? Of course I saved Ilsa, Brandt. She's part of the team." Ethan glanced back at them, then back to Brandt, who was downing the shot of vodka in his glass. "She's right here."

"Not her. Ilsa can save herself, probably better than the IMF could save her." Brandt smacked the glass onto the table and picked up the bottle, his other hand never twitching from its position just behind the gun. He poured another shot.

"You mean Julia," Ilsa said softly. "You want to know if Ethan saved Julia."

"Why, why would you want to know if I saved Julia?" Ethan asked.

Benji slipped past Luther into the room, watching Brandt. From even a foot closer, Brandt looked absolutely terrible. Like he'd been crying, and hadn't bothered to hide it. Benji wasn't sure his bloodshot eyes were entirely due to the alcohol after all.

"Why would I want to know if you saved Julia?" Brandt drawled mockingly. "Oh, I don't know." Brandt's hand slid onto the gun as he stood up, downing the shot and letting the glass drop and shatter. Everyone but Benji had their guns up, but Brandt never raised his as he paced Ethan's living room. "Maybe because I spent how many years blaming myself for her death when she wasn't actually dead? Because being the IMF patsy in your plan to protect her screwed my head up for years and took me out of the field, until the Kremlin bombing and the death of the previous IMF secretary?" Brandt glared at Ethan. "Goddamn it, Ethan," he said, his voice rising, "at least tell me if your wife survived so I know my _husband_ didn't die in vain!"

Ethan took a step back at that, as Ilsa and Luther lowered their guns. "Husband?" Ilsa asked, frowning.

"Hunley," Benji said, blinking. "That's... that's why you left the IMF two years ago, because your husband was the Secretary and that was a hell of a violation of the nepotism policy if you were the Chief Analyst."

"Give Benji the prize, since he's smarter than all of you put together." Brandt grabbed the vodka bottle and drank straight from it, before pointing it at Ethan. "So, tell me that I didn't just lose the man I loved more than anything in vain, Ethan. That his death at least kept Julia Meade and her husband alive in whatever remote frontier village they were saving. Solomon Lane will be dead in," Brandt looked at his watch, "two hours and twenty-two minutes, so at least give me that from your own mouth before I have to show up at IMF headquarters and start putting the damn place back together yet a-fucking-again."

The two men stared at each other, and Benji honestly wasn't sure if one of them would shoot the other. Then Ethan lowered his gun. "Yeah, Brandt. Julia is alive."

Brandt's shoulders slumped and he dropped into the chair, hands coming up to cradle his head. At least his finger was still off the trigger, but the gun was too close to his head for Benji's liking. He didn't think Brandt was the type to off himself, but he'd just lost his husband. "Good. That's good. So at least one of us isn't mourning someone we couldn't save."

"Brandt, give me the gun," Ilsa said softly, moving forward. She stopped when Brandt moved his hand, the barrel pointing at her.

"No, I don't think I'm ready to give this up yet," he said.

"Brandt, he wouldn't want you to do this," Luther added.

"And how would you know that, Luther?" Brandt replied angrily, not even looking up. "How much time did you spend with Alan, that you would know what he wanted? What he thought, how he felt about me, about us, about anything? You, Ethan, Ilsa, Benji - how much did you just dismiss him as a bureaucrat that cleaned up your messes?" He looked up at them then, his eyes bright with unshed tears. "None of you knew him like I did, so don't tell me what he would want." Brandt looked down. "I argued against him, before he left. Argued against that stupid, idiotic, obviously CIA-planted dossier on you, Ethan, and got him to at least be willing to listen to you. He kissed me goodbye, and then his last words were telling you to finish the mission."

"Er, no, actually, they weren't," Benji said, suddenly realizing what Hunley had been trying to say with his last few breaths. He didn't flinch as he noticed everyone in the room was looking at him, but instead he looked straight at Brandt. "Before Luther and I had to leave, after Ethan had left, he was trying to tell me something. I couldn't figure it out then, but now... now I know what he was saying."

"What was he saying?" Ethan asked.

Benji waited until Brandt's eyes met him. "He said 'Will' as he gave me this." Benji pulled out the envelope with the rings and the flash drive and held it out toward Brandt. He snatched it back as Ethan reached for it. "I believe this belongs to Brandt." Ethan's hands went up as he realized that Benji was not going to hand it over.

Standing up from the chair, Brandt moved forward to take the envelope from Benji, his fingers curling around it. "Did you read it?" he asked.

"No. I hadn't had the time," he admitted.

Brandt huffed out a laugh. "Time. Not a friend of mine, I can say." He opened the envelope and dumped out the two rings, sliding both onto his left ring finger. "Til death do us part," he whispered, clenching his hand around the rings.

Benji stepped forward and covered Brandt's gun, gently easing it out of the other man's hand. Brandt didn't resist, and Benji wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. "Look, I don't know what he would have wanted, you're right. But I think he did want us to be here for you, otherwise he wouldn't have given me your rings. He knew I would have looked at that flash drive, and whatever's on it, I bet it would have led me to you. He didn't want you to be alone without your friends, Will, and I'm sorry we weren't here for you sooner."

Brandt looked at him, and then the tears that had been threatening finally spilled over. Benji quickly held the gun out and Ethan grabbed it as Benji grabbed Brandt, easing the other man down to the floor as he cried for his husband. He held on until Brandt's tears dried up, even as the others left the room to give them some privacy. "Look," Benji said quietly as the other man stayed silent. "I can't promise it will be easy, or that it won't suck, being reminded of him. But I can promise you don't have to do it alone. I can't speak for the others, but you can bet your ass I'll be right there with you." HQ duty would suck, but Brandt needed his former team, needed his friends. At least this time stuck behind a desk wasn't because the IMF was shut down. It would be keeping it going. 

"Thanks, Benji," Brandt murmured. "I appreciate it." He pulled back and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"At least it will only be until a new secretary is appointed, eh? Then maybe we can drag you back into the field with us again," Benji said. "I miss having you in my ear on missions."

Brandt met Benji's eyes, a wry smile on his face. "I've already been informed that I am not allowed to be out in the field with Ethan Hunt ever again," he said.

"Why not?" Ethan asked. Both men turned around to see Ethan, Luther, and Ilsa coming back into the room. Ilsa crossed and handed Brandt a water bottle. He took it with a smile as he got to his feet, Benji following.

"Who says you can't be in the field with Ethan?" Luther asked, frowning.

"The Senate Oversight Committee," Brandt replied, cracking open the water bottle and drinking from it.

"Why would the Oversight Committee prohibit you from being in the field with me?" Ethan asked, frowning as well. Benji noticed that he and Luther had similar frowns, and tried not to snicker at that.

Brandt stared at Ethan as if the other man were being obtuse. He transferred his stare from Ethan to Luther, then Ilsa, then to Benji. "Why would they..." he trailed off then gave a short bark of laughter that contained no humor. "Let's just say they gave me a mission and no choice but to accept it."

"Right, put the IMF back together, until a new secretary is appointed," Luther said.

"A new secretary has been appointed," Brandt said. "And he's been informed he is not allowed to be in the field at all, but especially not anywhere near IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, who was present when the previous two secretaries were killed." Brandt handed the water bottle to Benji. A buzz sounded and Brandt pulled his phone out of his pocket, frowning at the message before typing back a quick message. "They'll probably be pissed that I'm here right now." He looked at Benji. "I'll see you at work Monday," he said. "Make sure you bring the gun back. It's best that I don't have it before then."

A knock at the door interrupted before anyone could say anything about their realization that William Brandt, former teammate, former Chief Analyst, Alan Hunley's widower, was now Secretary Brandt of the IMF. 

"Mister Secretary?" Ethan's front door, which Benji realized he'd neglected to lock, opened and two men that Benji recognized from HQ as the security for the secretary entered the room. "We need to go. There's an issue in South America and you're needed at HQ."

"Thank you, Michael." Brandt straightened, his eyes still bloodshot but he didn't look like a man who had been drinking and crying not ten minutes before. "Ethan, Ilsa, Luther, Benji." He nodded at them and followed the security personnel out.

Benji stuck his hands in his jacket pocket as Ethan went to close the door behind the three men. He frowned as he discovered a flash drive in the pocket, one that hadn't been there before. He didn't pull it out but the shape felt like the one that Hunley had given him, and that he had given to Brandt.

Brandt wanted him to see what was on that flash drive, so Benji would - later. After they'd all been given places to sleep in Ethan's house, Benji pulled out his tablet, disconnected it from the network, and put headphones on before inserting the drive. 

A video started playing, showing paperwork from the Syndicate, and some that looked like Human Resources papers, with names blurred. "Good evening, Agent Dunn. Several months ago, operatives of the Syndicate began infiltrating the IMF at the direction of Solomon Lane and August Walker. These sleeper agents are still in place, with orders to bring down the IMF should the Syndicate fail. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is assist the Secretary with uncovering these sleeper operatives and neutralizing them to ensure the IMF is not compromised. This briefing will self-destruct in five seconds."

Benji pulled the drive from his computer and let the small charge inside fry the drive. That wasn't the drive Hunley had given him, but a mission that Brandt specifically wanted him on.

He tapped his finger on the edge of the tablet for a moment then reconnected it to the network, opening up the backdoor he had into the IMF databases. These bastards had infiltrated the IMF, and now were potentially targeting Brandt? 

He was definitely accepting this mission.


End file.
